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PM confident platform will be built in T&T

Michael Burton delivers a message from former Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the Point Fortin Secondary School on Tuesday night.

Months after energy giant bpTT decided against constructing the platform for the Angelin gas fields at La Brea, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is expressing optimism that the next platform will be built in T&T. However warned prospective employees not to make the same mistake they did with the Juniper and Angelin platforms which were pulled due to issues project timelines and competitiveness factors.

If T&T is to be globally competitive, behaviours have to change, he said when he discussed the issue at Tuesday’s Conversation with the Prime Minister session in Point Fortin.

Rowley urged the people of the south west peninsula, who stand to benefit from this project, to behave in a way that will attract investment in the area and not engage in protests and work stoppages.

“We lost Angelin platform for two reasons. One a delay in the decision making and secondly, sending a signal from this part of the country that the price for construction could not be guaranteed. We behave in a way as though we are competing against ourselves, so when the project is had, we can’t have work stoppages on a regular basis and demands being made.

“There is another one in pipeline. We have to understand that we are not competing against ourselves for this project. We are competing against other platform producers in Louisiana, Texas, and we have to behave in a way to attract that investment to this area.”

To do so, he stressed, “it must not be that you are not doing what has to be done to make ourselves the location of preference. Set about to do the work make a name for yourself,”

Rowley added: “I have every confidence that with the conversation we are having now with BP, that the next platform is likely to be built at Labidco in Trinidad and Tobago.

Don’t let what happened with the Angelin disappointment put an end to our dream as a platform building area in the hydrocarbon sector.’

Particularly with what is happening in Guyana with the new discoveries, he said, “if platforms are to be built to service Guyana, we must be in the mix.

We will only be in the mix if our prices and our behaviour are equal to or better than the offerings in Louisiana, Texas and other areas. We are competing for world business.”